Midnight Serenade
by shinigamiinochi
Summary: Duo is a being not from this world, running from those that wish to enslave him. When his previous masters find him again, will Duo be able to save his new, human family?
1. Chapter 1

Midnight Serenade

Author's Notes: Midnight Serenade was started five years ago when I was a sophomore in high school. It started out as a humorous little get together fic I wrote in gym because my friend and I were really bored, but the more I wrote, the deeper this fic got. So, now that I am a junior in college, I'm re-writing it. This was actually pre-Death. There are some original characters, but don't let that scare you, they serve a very important purpose in relation to the plot, not just because I want to flaunt my original character skills.

Rating: NC-17

Pairings: 1+2, 3+4, OCx2.

Warnings: Racism (not realistic, but terrible none the less), angst, sap, lemon, violence, language, supernatural elements, OOC, annoying Relena, NCS, torture, mentions of past pedophilia.

Summary: Duo is a being not from our world, hiding from beings that wish to persecute him for the way he was born.

Duo flexed his wings, spreading his seven foot wingspan with ease, his tail swishing back and forth as he perched on the top of the tree. His cat-like ears twitched from side to side, trying to pick up the slightest sound in case he should be discovered. He had finally managed to get away from the safe house to relax in the woods without anyone noticing he was gone. Hiding his 'true' self for so long was taxing on his body. He could keep a human form for as long as he needed to, but it hurt. So, every now and then he would try to find a safe place to change and rest his tired powers and muscles. He sniffed at the wind, his super-human senses picking up a familiar scent.

Duo had disappeared again. Heero trudged through the woods with an annoyed look on his face. Every so often the braided pilot would wander off. Sure, each time he would return looking just fine, but Heero had no idea why or where he went. The boy was a mystery and Heero hated not being in control. Still, when he really questioned his motives, he found that it was not out of curiosity that Heero was walking through the thick bushes in search of Duo, but concern. They were in between missions and OZ was still hot on their trail. If they had to leave quickly, Heero wanted to make sure that Duo was with them. Heero growled at his own thoughts. Duo was a Gundam pilot and could take care of himself, but he just couldn't ignore his own feelings. Love… it was perfectly useless during a war, but it was also overwhelming. He just didn't understand how Quatre and Trowa could cope. Of course, he bet that they didn't spend hours pining uselessly after each other. After all, they had already confessed their feelings while Heero was too afraid to say a thing. Heero took a break and leaned against a large tree. Something dropped down from it behind him. He whirled around, whipping out his gun to shoot at whatever, or whoever, it was. Amused violets bore into him as Duo smirked at him, looking completely normal, at least for Duo.

"Did I scare you?" He teased. Heero rolled his eyes. Duo didn't wait around for Heero to respond and ran off towards the house. Heero looked up at the high branches that Duo had jumped from. His gaze was suspicious for such a tall height… Heero shook off his thoughts. It was nothing… just his imagination.

'That was close,' Duo thought. Just a few more seconds and Heero might have looked up and seen Duo changing. He sighed. He had to be more careful. If Heero found out… Duo shuddered. No, that was not going to happen! He thought that he could survive anything as long as Heero didn't find out that he was a monster.

"Have a good walk?" Quatre asked, chopping carrots and dropping them into a large pan on the stove as Duo walked into the kitchen. Though only Trowa and Wufei seemed to have a true knack for cooking, they all took turns. Quatre, Heero, and Duo weren't exactly great at it, but they weren't bad, either. With the cold, autumn weather, it appeared that Quatre was making some sort of stew. Trowa, while living with the mercenaries, had learned all of the basics, but it seemed like he had a natural talent for cooking. Wufei had learned how to cook from his mother, though he only seemed to know how to make oriental food and had a lot of trouble with Eastern foods. Quatre, having been raised in a household filled with servants, had to have been taught by the rest of them and was still learning, but he could make simple things like grilled cheese and soup. Duo, after watching Sister Helen cook, had picked up a few things. Out of all of them, Duo was the best baker, so when they had the luxury, he would make cookies and pies and cakes for them. His cooking was mediocre, but, like Trowa, he knew how to make more complicated stuff, he just wasn't as good at it as him. As part of his training, Heero had to learn how to take care of himself, so like Quatre, he had a basic knowledge of cooking, his food just seemed bland until one of the others helped him with it. Duo felt proud that Heero's opinion of his cooking was good. In fact, it seemed like it was one of the few things in which Duo was better than Heero at. Duo took a whiff of what was cooking in the pot.

"Good, it's not too cold out today. Smells good, Quat!" Quatre beamed at him, grateful to be doing something for the team after a week of monotony. Their controllers had ordered them to stay low while OZ's hunt for them heated up. However…

"Trowa received a mission today," Quatre said in a somber tone, "he leaves in an hour."

"I'm sorry," Duo said sincerely. It had been a great relief when Trowa and Quatre had hooked up. Duo was glad to see his friends and comrades happy for a change. He just wished he had a reason to smile like they did. Quatre smiled again, but it was darker and unsure.

"I'm sure he'll be fine, Wufei will be going with him." Duo nodded. Wufei could be an ass sometimes, but he was loyal and treated his friends like family. If he had to make a choice between a friend or his arm, he would use his own katana to cut it off. Duo patted Quatre on the shoulder.

"I'll make you those blueberry pancakes you like tomorrow, ok?" Quatre hugged him.

"Thank you, Duo," he murmured in his ear. Quatre was the only one who knew that Duo was in love with Heero and understood that Duo would do whatever he could to take Quatre's mind off of Trowa leaving, just like Quatre did whenever Heero left on a mission. The only difference, the one that really mattered, was that while Quatre could kiss his lover goodbye, Duo could only watch Heero leave in silence, waiting, wishing, and hoping for a way to change things. Quatre remembered what it was like when he had fallen in love with Trowa but had not been able to confess his feelings. He did not understand how Duo could bear it. Quatre turned back to his cooking as the water started to boil. Duo smiled at his best friend.

Duo looked out the window at the sky which was a burning orange and blue as the sun set. This world was such a strange place. Still, he did not miss his home at all; he merely wondered what was happening to his kin. He felt a darkness fill his heart. The ones he loved… they were suffering now all because of him, because he had escaped. And yet, he was glad. He was a horrible creature because of that.

'Despite all of the pain it's caused,' he thought as the sky slowly darkened into twilight, 'I'm glad I came to Earth. It is so much better here and at least here I have people who care about me.' His eyes softened as his being was filled with sadness and pain, glad that he was facing away from Quatre so he could not see it, 'I hope I never have to go back. I don't care if Heero doesn't love me or not, for the first time in my life, I actually feel like I belong and for now, that's all I need.'

Duo stuck his tongue out of his mouth as he leaned over the stove, mixing a large bowl of pancake batter; a cute habit he had when he was concentrating. He was so deep in his thoughts that he did not notice that Heero was watching him work behind him. As Duo leaned forward to heat the pan, his braid slipped forward, exposing his pale, thin neck. Heero swallowed. He had the sudden urge to lick at that fair skin. But, he had no right, despite the fact that he wondered what Duo would taste like. Need ate at him, becoming a solid thing in his gut, but he was nothing if not able to sacrifice his own wants for what needed to be done. Some would call that a virtue. Heero called it a curse. He wondered how things would change if he just took that one little step forward…

But… some things were just not meant to be. Heero left the kitchen and returned to his laptop.

Quatre watched as Duo and Heero packed with a sad expression. It was hard to imagine that he would be all alone in this house when just yesterday they were all together, enjoying each other's company.

"When will you be back?" He asked with a heavy heart. He hated this, watching his friends going off into a situation that could lead to their own deaths.

"In three days," Duo told him, "we can't bring our Gundams with us. We just have to get in, steal the data, wipe as much as we can, and blow the rest up. It'll be easy to get in without our Gundams, getting out on the other hand…," Duo shrugged nonchalantly. Quatre shuddered. So much could go wrong with a mission like that. Heero continued to bear an expressionless face as he helped Duo packed the materials he needed to make explosives. Finally, he left the room. Quatre was grateful. He sighed. The boy could be so cold sometimes. Duo could easily imagined how lonely the boy was, especially with Trowa gone. Duo wished he could have at least a little comfort. Hell, he was a virgin in more than one regard. And Heero was probably just as oblivious to it all. Maybe he was lucky like that; you certainly couldn't miss something you didn't know existed.

'Not that it matters anyway. If I ever have sex with a human I won't be able to go home. Well, that wouldn't be so bad, but these powers are useful. Besides that, anytime I lose control, I turn into my true form. So… if I had sex…,' Duo shuddered a little. Quatre looked at him in concern.

"There's no way Heero could ever fall in love with someone like me," he muttered. 'Even if I was fully human.' Quatre's gaze turned pitiful at the tragic statement.

"Duo," he murmured. Duo smiled reassuringly at him.

"I'm fine," he said, but Quatre knew that that wasn't the full truth at all. "There's no use whining about it, right?" Quatre's smile was weak.

"Are you sure you're ready for this?" Heero asked as they put their duffle bags in the car. He realized at the last minute how condescending the remark sounded, but he genuinely worried. In truth, this was his mission, not Duo's, and he was supposed to go it alone. But, though he was loath to admit it, this was Duo's area of expertise and with the two of them, the chances of something going wrong was much slimmer. Of course, when Heero had told him of his mission, Duo had jumped on it, outlining plans for the both of them that greatly exceeded J's plans. The fact that they made such a great time made pride swell inside of Heero. In the past, Heero would have rather shot the boy instead of letting anyone even know about his missions, let alone let them adjust his plans.

"You have to do the most on this mission," Heero continued. While he was glad to work with Duo, he also didn't like putting the boy he loved in dangerous situations.

"I know it's your specialty," Heero tried to change his mind. He could pull this mission off on his own, it would just have a greater chance of him getting hurt, "but even so… if you mess up, it'll get us both killed." Heero didn't have to psychoanalyze himself to know that it was Duo getting killed that bothered him the most. Duo rolled his eyes at him.

"Gee, _thanks_," Duo's voice was heavy with sarcasm.

"Don't mean to be cold," Heero tried to reassure him, "I am only stating the facts. This mission is riding on your shoulders."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. I'll try better than my best. I'm the only one who can pull this off flawlessly, remember? I'll do what I'm good at and succeed. Don't worry, I won't screw up." Heero nodded, feeling better at Duo's infectious confidence.

"I know you won't. I'm putting all of my trust in you and your abilities." Heero opened the driver side door and slid in, not seeing Duo's blush at his words. Despite the fact that they both had fake driver's licenses, Heero looked older than Duo and was less likely to get pulled over.

'He's putting his trust in me?' Duo thought, 'in that case, I really cannot afford to fail.'

"C'mon, let's go," Heero's voice broke Duo out of his thoughts.

The plan was simple enough. They would travel the compound's heating duct into the main control room. The duct was an elaborate maze and Duo was counting on Heero's memorization skills to get through it. In the main control room, Duo just needed to enter the pre-hacked computer codes to gain the password for the room and files they were looking for. Then, they would have to find the right computer room with the data they needed as there were twenty computer rooms and not all of the files were connected to the network, but specific computers. Getting into the control room would be hard enough, considering the duct was a good twelve felt up, meaning they couldn't go back the way they came in. Then, Heero would have to knock out the guards while Duo broke into the right room and obtain the data without getting killed. The room would not be empty and Duo would have to fight himself. Then, Duo would set up the explosives and virus Heero had created and the two boys would only have five minutes to get to the bottom floor and get out. Okay, so the plan wasn't that simple. But it was functional. If either of the pilots made a slight error, they would be blown to smithereens. Not a pleasant thought. Duo was nervous, but confident. He had done missions like this many times, though he had had better time ranges and odds and there had only been his own life at stake. As they crawled through the duct, Duo found it hard to keep his eyes off Heero's ass.

'C'mon! Think of the mission!' They reached the end of the duct. Heero opened the hatch door.

"Be careful of the drop," Heero advised. Duo nodded even though he knew Heero couldn't see it. Then, Heero jumped. Duo slid forward and jumped. He landed gracefully on his feet and took in his surroundings. They ran to the nearest computer and started typing. Heero found the passwords for the mainframe and individual computers while Duo cross referenced the files they needed with each computer. Despite the enormous amount of information they both had to sift through, they were efficient at their jobs and got all that they needed in a matter of minutes. No words were spoken as they ran to each room, downloading from the individual computers before needing to go to the main computer room and attacking the mainframe. It would be from there that Duo would plant the explosives.  
"Halt!" One of the guards patrolling the computer room spotted the two boys racing towards them. This was the only way into the room, so sneaking past them was impossible. Their only chance was to attack full force. It was time. They whipped out their guns and shot the three guards. They fell in no time. The guards had had just enough time to get a few shots off, but none of them hit their targets. The worse was a minor graze that swept over Duo's arm, but it wasn't bad. Even as Duo got the door open, more guards were running towards them and an alarm was sounded.

"Now!" Heero yelled. Duo rushed into the room, trusting Heero to cover his back, and slid on the blood coating the floor, giving him a greater advantage in speed to duck the bullets that managed to slip past Heero, though one lucky shot hit him in the back. Heero locked the door behind Duo just in case he failed and Duo needed to gain a few minutes to destroy the data. They could do incredible damage to OZ by getting rid of that data. Of course, they would also be giving themselves the edge by keeping the data for themselves, but if there was no way out, they had their orders to destroy everything, even if it went killing them. The sounds of shooting just beyond the door filled Duo with fear for his partner, but he had a job to do. There were two more guards waiting for him in the room, but Duo was prepared with a knife. He wiped his weapon clean of blood, stepping over the corpses and ignoring the feeling of tacking blood seeping through his clothes and onto his skin. He typed furiously, wrapping a hand around the wound on his arm and wincing at a hot pain in his back as the computer quickly downloaded the files onto a protected disc. He whipped out the disc when it was done, scared as the sounds from the hallway ceased and he felt blood leaking into his pants, from his back wound or the dead guard's blood he did not know. He taped the explosives to the computer screen.

'Okay, we've got five minutes to get the hell out of here,' Duo thought as he sped out of the room. The hallway was chaos with blood and guts and bodies all over the place, but he discovered happily that Heero was not dead or badly wounded. The second Heero saw his partner, he started to run. They never made it to the first flight of stairs.

They ran through the hallways and, upon reaching their last corridor, Duo let out a breath of relief. But it was short lived. As they turned the corner… they met with a large glass window.

"Fuck!" Heero swore.

The explosion sounded behind them. Fire flowed like a rapid tidal wave, slamming them against the window. Heero hit the glass, his body was savagely cut by the brutal force of it while Duo was hit by the brunt of the explosion and the smell of burning flesh filled the air as they both fell towards the ocean and rocky shore below.

Velvet wings unfolded from Duo's back as he fell, ripping through the flesh of his back as he didn't have the time to prepare his human body for the sudden change. He winced when a red hot pain shot through his right wing. He felt something warm trickle down his feathers.

'Shit! Not good!' He plummeted after Heero's falling body. He managed to catch his friend and with all his might, he managed to pull them up from the tailspin.

"Duo?" Heero's murmured.

"It's ok," Duo reassured him tiredly as he struggled to keep them in the air as the base burned behind them. Heero fell unconscious. Duo was worried at the amount of blood that was pooling out his wounds, but he couldn't do anything until they were on land again. Duo wavered in the air. The explosion had created harsh winds that made it difficult to control his movements. His injured wing was flapping oddly as well.

'Double shit! I can barely carry myself on these currents! There's no way my wings can hold him up as well.' Just then a strong wind hit and slammed Duo into a nearby cliff. The pilot used his large wings to shield Heero from the impact. He cried out as he heard a loud crunch. He quickly grabbed a root jutting out from the cliff with one hand and with the other he slung Heero over his shoulder and grunted.

"Damn! If we survive this, you are so going on a diet!" Duo looked pitifully at his right wing which was laying limp, dark rivers of blood streamed down his feathers and trickled down to the rocky earth below in thick drops. Duo looked up. It was a good twenty feet to the top of the cliff. He gritted his teeth as he could feel the stress in his tightened muscles as he began to climb.

Someone saved me. I felt as though I was falling to hell. I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe. Then, I started to float. I looked up and saw that an angel was carrying me back up to heaven. As the blackness came, I welcomed it. I know that I'll be safe in my angel's warm embrace.

Duo pulled Heero up towards the ground.

'Whew! Finally!' His muscles felt as though they were on fire. Duo sat down next to Heero. He strained his back to try to lift his broken wing but all that resulted was more pain.

"So much for flying," he muttered. He looked down at the fallen boy. Heero needed medical attention right away, but they were too far away from help. He would die by the time Duo could carry him to a safe house or hospital. Even then, a hospital was too risky. He could use his powers to transfer Heero's wounds onto himself, but that would render himself useless completely useless and make him very ill. He looked down at his body. He was badly burned but because of his abilities, he would be able to heal himself within a few weeks. There was a bullet stuck in his wing that he wouldn't be able to get out on his own considering how sensitive his wings were. All in all, he would be able to do the transfer but…. No! He had to save Heero! Duo placed a hand on Heero's forehead. He closed his eyes as a soft blue light glowed around his body.

Heero awoke slowly, feeling comfortable warmth.

'What a weird dream… I dreamt Duo was an angel… odd. Wait, where am I? I remember hitting the window and falling… but what came after?' Heero looked around and noticed Duo curled into a ball next to him. Except, Duo wasn't… Duo. He had feline ears, a long black tail, and… wings? Heero shook his head.

'I must be dreaming… even is he does look beautiful like that.' Heero looked more closely at Duo. His right wing looked mangled dripping with blood. Hell, his entire body was practically drenched in it and there were burns, bruises, and cuts all over him. His shirt had been burned in huge chunks and seemed to be hanging on by threads. What Heero could see of his back to seemed to have been ripped open by his wings. Besides that, his face was flushed with fever and he was breathing hard. Then, Heero looked down at himself. He was completely unharmed.

'But I was the one who hit the window; I'm the one who should have the cuts. What the hell is going on?!'

'Kill him. He lied to you. He betrayed your trust. It's the obvious choice. He's a freak of nature. He's obviously dangerous,' the soldier in him snapped.

'No! I will not! Ok, so, he's not exactly human. Mutant, alien, experiment, I don't really care what he is. He's my friend and he's hurt. And he didn't betray my trust, he was just trying to be normal, I think. He didn't want us to alienate or persecute him. At least, that's what I would feel like if I was… different. So just SHUT UP!' The soldier made no response. Heero touched one of Duo's ears. He needed to get Duo some help, but how when he looked like this?

'Still, it's soft…' Heero blinked as Duo made a strange noise.

'Did he just purr?' Heero stroked the ear. The purring noise got louder. Heero smirked.

'Cute.' His gaze got serious as he noticed Duo's right wing. He ran his fingers through the bloodied feathers and against the protruding bone of the break. He grimaced as he felt wet blood there. Duo suddenly made a noise that sounded like a cross between a purr, mewl, and cry of agony. Heero winced. His wings were so sensitive… he needed bandages and something to get the bullet out. There was no exit wound, so it was still lodged in there and pretty deep by the looks of it. Heero peeled of his white jacket and green tank top as well as the remains of Duo's shirt. In other circumstances, he would have drooled over the site of Duo's naked upper torso, but the sight of Duo's pale back made Heero stop what he was doing. The poor boy's back was covered in pock marks, long nasty scars, burn marks; there was even a scar in the shape of a demon wing. The tattoo looking scar looked painted, but Heero realized that the skin was actually charred black. Someone had also carved symbols he didn't understand and derogatory words like 'monster', 'freak', 'whore', and other horrible things that made him see red. He shook off his feelings of rage. There was nothing he could do about it now, but as soon as Duo was better, they were going to have a long talk. He put his jacket back on and tore up the tank top into long strips. They would do fine for bandages, but he had nothing to get the bullet out except for his fingers… Heero winced, but there was no way around it. He slowly pressed a finger against Duos wing muscle tissue. The unconscious boy whimpered.

"Hold on," Heero murmured reassuringly. He dug his finger into the wound, holding the trembling boy in his arms. He clutched Duo tighter as the longhaired boy screamed in pin. Heero dug harder into the muscle, feeling for the tip of the bullet. He grimaced as a wave of blood leaked past his finger. Duo started to yell in a foreign language that he had never heard of, but he understood the tone of someone begging for pain to stop. But the sound of his voice… it sounded like he was beginning against something worse than the pain he was in… it tore at his heart. Duo squirmed and thrashed in his arms as the pain overwhelmed him and fuelled his nightmares. Heero cried in triumph as he felt the tip of the bullet. In one fluid movement he ripped the bullet from the flesh. Duo screamed again and this time Heero had to hold him down with all of his strength to keep him from convulsing out of control.

"Ssh," Heero stroke the writhing teen's hair and ears in a desperate attempt to calm him. However, it worked. Soon, Duo was sound asleep once again. Heero looked at the blood and flesh covered bullet in disgust and chucked it over the cliff as hard as he could. He gazed down at his feverish partner; his normally cold eyes were warm in concern. He continued to stroke his silky hair and sensitive ears.

"Don't worry. Everything's ok now. We'll find a safe house soon, I promise." Amazingly, Duo completely settled down as Heero spoke.

Quatre cuddled against Trowa in complete contentment. It felt so good to have him back and healthy. Trowa caressed Quatre's smooth face and leaned in to kiss him. Quatre hummed in happiness and melted against Trowa's firm chest. Then, it happened. Mostly when Quatre 'felt' things, it was a gradual build, but this time it hit him suddenly and at full force. He screamed. Trowa sat up and grabbed Quatre's shoulders, trying to keep his love grounded in the here and now instead of something miles away, but it was no use.

"Is it Heero or Duo?" Trowa asked desperately. If he knew what was causing the pain, he could stop it. Not to mention he needed to know if his friends were in trouble. Quatre shuddered and twitched as wave after wave of pain and anguish hit his heart.

"Yes!" He whimpered. He knew it was one of the pair that was feeling such physical and emotional pain, but every time he tried to reach out to find out which one it was and the specific emotions, the pain became too much and he had to back off.

"Is it fatal? Are they in danger?" No response; Quatre appeared to be going into shock and was muttering something too softly for him to hear but it sounded like 'brother' or 'mother' something like that.

"Quatre!" Then, Quatre started to scream again, this time in fear and anger instead of pain. Then, it all just stopped.

"It's ok," Quatre murmured exhaustedly, "the pain's stopped for some reason.

"Are they alright?" Trowa asked with baited breath. Quatre placed a hand over his heart and nodded.

"I think so. I can still feel him… but he's asleep and relaxed. But I can't tell if they're captured or not! That's what I hate about my empathy! All I can do is feel their emotions and pain! They both feel calm, though someone is anxious and doubtful."

"We need to start to look for them. They can't be too far away from the base, especially if one of them is injured."

Quatre nodded. Then, the door bell rang.

"What the hell?" Trowa snapped. Wufei was sleeping and he doubted that Duo and Heero were back already and there was no way OZ would be that courteous. There was really only one person left that it could be, but Trowa held onto high hopes that it wasn't that one. Still, he had little choice but to roll out of bed to answer the door.

"Relena," he muttered. The girl crossed her arms over her curved chest impatiently.

"I need to speak to Heero. Is he here?"

"No," he grumbled. It was way too early in the morning to deal with the woman. It was a good thing that Heero and Duo were on a mission. It seemed that when Heero was around, Relena was much worse and Duo always bore the brunt of her malicious attitude.

"Then I'll just have to wait for him," she smiled sweetly and forced her way past Trowa. Trowa sighed. He knew that once the girl had started, there was no point in arguing with her. He only hoped that she didn't lead anyone else here like she had before. If she didn't have such political pull they would have killed her easily. But, J had given them orders to put up with her.

Heero paused to take a breath as he trekked up the steep hill. He had been walking for three hours with Duo's limp body in his arms. The longer they walked, the more Duo's body changed back to his human form. His ears lost their fur and changed shape and his wings and tail slowly shrunk back into his pale body. However, his wounds seemed to bleed more and stood out more prominently on his skin. So far he had yet to see any forms of life and to make things worse, Duo's fever was escalating to an alarming rate and his breathing was startlingly uneven. Heero clutched his bundle tightly, trying his best to warm Duo's body, which was shivering in the brisk, autumn air.

"It's ok," Heero said, more to himself than to Duo.

General Turov barricaded the door to his office, a pistol in his tight, white grip pointed at the door. He could hear chaos happening outside in the hallway. Explosions and bloody screams… He shuddered. Ever since that damned surveillance tape had come in today, strange things had happened. The tape itself was bizarre… After news of the destruction of the Tsu Ni La base, the Niryana base that Turov controlled had been trying to recollect the data that from there by the networked computers, but the terrorists had wiped everything which had effected every base within a hundred mile radius. The only thing they had been able to salvage was the surveillance tapes from the base which were also networked in case of terrorist attacks. Turov hoped that he could find some weakness of clue to the terrorists. Instead, he had footage to something even better; a winged boy saving his comrade from falling to certain death. At first he had thought that someone had tampered with the tape, but they couldn't find anyway it could have been done. And now, someone had broke into _this_ base, killing and destroying all that it could. Turov's surveillance tapes showed a eerie sight; a young man with messy, shoulder black hair tied in a pony tail and strange, green-gold eyes, ears that were pointed and covered in fine black hair, clawed hands, and he had strange black markings on his lightly tanned skin. He and the other guards stationed here had wasted all of their ammo on the creature, but none if left a mark. He just kept coming, tearing everyone and everything with his claws, an evil smirk on his cruel face, exposing pearly fangs. Then, the door started to dent inward, then exploded outward. The creature stood there, covered in blood and a satisfied smile on his face.

After another two hours of hiking with worry eating at him, Heero had found his way back to the safe house. The jeep that Trowa had stolen was still there and the house was the way that they had left it yesterday, so Heero figured that it had to still be secure. He was so concerned about Duo's failing health that he did not realize that there were four pairs of shoes instead of three.

Meanwhile, Quatre was doing his best to be cordial to their so-called guest. However, she didn't seem to want to talk at all, she just sat there waiting and sipping the tea that Quatre had made for her. Quatre could practically taste the tension in the air as they all waited for their missing pilots to come home. Even Wufei had taken a seat at the table, his entire body tense with worry and annoyance when every now and then Relena would bombard them with questions about Heero and, to their anger, occasionally Duo and his relationship with Heero. Quatre gritted his teeth. He wished that they did have a romantic relationship that Quatre could brag about to her, just to wipe out that damn smirk off her face when she realized that there was nothing between the two. Quatre was glad that she also realized that there very well could be something between the two boys. It was just too bad that she didn't understand that she had no chance with Heero whether or not he was in a relationship with Duo. They were all saved both from Relena and their worry when the door slammed open. They all had their guns out and ready to flee when they saw Heero standing in the door way with an injured Duo draped in his arms. No words need to have been spoken as the three boys swooped upon the other two pilots and Relena was shoved aside to take care of them. Heero refused to let go of Duo, but let Wufei and Trowa work on his wounds as Quatre got the bed ready upstairs for Duo as well as some new clothes. Both Wufei and Trowa got on eye full of the scars on Duo's back, but they said nothing. Right now they needed to concentrate solely on saving their friends life. Relena tried to speak to Heero, but Quatre took her in hand and brought her to the kitchen. The girl had enough common sense to not follow him back out, at least while they were performing triage on their fallen comrade. Duo's cuts were cleaned and stitched closed by Trowa while Wufei cut away the dead skin from Duo's burns and Quatre managed to feed Duo antibiotics for his fever.

"I don't think we need to take him to the hospital, his burns and cuts aren't too bad," Quatre murmured, stroking Duo's hair as he cried out in pain as Wufei continued to take off the dead skin.

"It's ok," both Quatre and Heero murmured to him. Heero noted that his wounds didn't look as bad as they had before because while Duo was asleep they had started to heal rapidly until he was back in his human form. Quatre was right, with the medical supplies they had Duo probably wouldn't need to be taken to the doctor, but Heero still wanted someone to tell him that his love would be ok. He debated whether or not to tell them about Duo, but deep inside he already knew the answer. They were a family; a strange and borderline dysfunctional one, but a still a family and they deserved to know the truth about one of their own. But, beyond that, it was not his place, it was Duo's decision. Once she had sensed that the excitement had died down, Relena emerged from the kitchen.

"Heero-!" Heero glared at her as he picked Duo up once more.

"Don't touch me," he snapped. Relena paled. She was used to Heero being too shy to engage her in conversation, but she had never seen him like this before. She narrowed her eyes at the shivering bundle in Heero's arms. It was all _his_ fault. Still, she followed them upstairs until the door was slammed in her face.

Luckily for Heero, they all took his moderated version of what happened with ease. He only hoped that they wouldn't hate him for lying if Duo decided to tell them the truth. Duo shivered harshly as he was laid on the bed. Wufei left the room to gather more blankets for them.

"I'll take care of him," Heero told Trowa and Quatre. Trowa nodded.

"Ok, we'll get Relena out of here, somehow," Quatre muttered despite the sweet smile on his face at Heero's concern for Duo, "if you need us, just call. Once Duo's up to it, we'll need to leave."

"Fine," Heero murmured, taking the desk chair and sitting next to Duo's bedside. He took Duo's slack hand in his, stroking his fair skin with his thumb. Trowa and Quatre's presence faded away, only he and Duo existed in the room.

"I'm so sorry," he murmured, not realizing that Quatre and Trowa could hear every word, "I shouldn't have taken you with me. You saved my life and now you're sick. If I'd only memorized that map better, you would be ok," Heero shook his head, "I never should have been so selfish. The truth is, I wanted you by my side. I'm so sorry." Heero felt a strong hand on his shoulder. Trowa pulled up a chair and sat next to him, sharing a small, knowing smile with Quatre.

"You shouldn't say such things."

"Oh and why not?!" Heero snapped, "if it weren't for Duo I'd be _dead_! I don't deserve his forgiveness, but I still want it! He drives me crazy, but I love him so much! I don't want him to hate me…" Hearing his feelings out loud like that was strange, but after everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, he didn't really care.

"He doesn't hate you, Heero. He risked his life to save yours for a reason. He thinks of you as a good friend. If you had died you would have caused him even greater pain. He needed to save you. Don't go around slandering that need! Yes, you screwed up, but I think that Duo would be very happy about that. Duo, he loves you too."

"Happy?" Heero murmured in disbelief. 'He loves me? He's happy that I fucked up?' Quatre gave Trowa a heated look. He didn't think that they should be interfering like this.

'How could he possibly be happy? I almost killed him,' Heero thought, 'I caused him pain.' Trowa nodded at Heero's questioning expression.

"Yes. It shows that you're finally becoming a human. Humans make mistakes. It's completely normal. Even Duo's made some," Heero bit his tongue when he almost debated the fact that Duo wasn't really human, "but he didn't let those mistakes overwhelm him. As humans we can use those mistakes to become stronger. I'm sure that now you'll never make an error like that again, right?" Heero nodded.

"I understand," Heero realized, "Duo wouldn't want me to sulk because of this. He'd want me to be happy we're both alive and well." He caressed Duo's cheek with his knuckles. The door opened as Wufei returned with a quilt. He draped it over Duo with a soft look that was foreign on the stern boy's face.

"The bitch has left," he told them, glaring at the closed door. "At least she understands when she's beaten." Duo's trembling subsided a little at the extra warmth. Trowa patted Heero on the shoulder as they made to leave.

"Tell him how you feel, Heero. You'd surprised where a little honesty can take you," he smiled at Quatre and grasped his hand in his, intertwining their fingers together.

The room was dark save for the glow of the TV screen which played the same scene over and over; two boys fell, then one of them grew wings and flew…

Two pairs of eyes glittered in the dark; one pair greenish gold and the other silver. The green-eyed, black haired boy's features were wolfish; his pointed black ears were standing up at attention. His partner was more feline-like with pale skin, long silver hair that matched his eyes, white furry ears, and a slim white tail like a panther's that was wrapped around his waist which also had a long width of chain he was using as a sort of belt. Both of them looked cold and feral.

"He's the one you're looking for?" The cat, named Yun, asked the wolf, named Miori.

"I know those eyes anywhere," Miori murmured, stroking the boy's visage on the TV screen, his eyes narrowed in a mix of anger, disgust, and lust. Yun smirked.

"He's pretty cute for a monster." Miori snorted.

"Don't worry," Yun reassured him, "I'll do as I'm told."

"You'd better," Miori snarled. Yun paled. He knew of the wolf's legendary temper. He almost pitied the little freakish hybrid.

"Do whatever you like," Miori ordered him, "nothing fatal. I want to break him myself." Yun bowed and disappeared. Miori turned back to the screen. He smiled.

"Soon, Nyet. It's been too long."

General Turov stared at the blank wall, his eyes blank and unseeing. Yun smirked at his puppet. Extracting souls was a specialty of Miori's. Turov still had some free will left, but without his soul he wouldn't be able to disobey them.

"What are you?" Turov asked, his voice hollow and devoid of all emotion.

"Gaiiji," Yun said simply, "beings of another world with powers you… people," he said the word like it was dirty, "don't even understand." He placed a clawed finger under the middle aged man's chin. "We need some help from you, unfortunately. One of ours has escaped and is hiding out here. We can't track him as long as he is in human form. If everything goes well, we might just not eat you."

Heero sat on the edge of Duo's bed and ruffled his bangs as the teen slept peacefully. As he slept, his wounds little by little seemed to be knitting themselves back together, leaving deep white scars. Just what was he? Why did his back look like that? Who had hurt him like that?! Duo's breathing had evened out, but Heero wanted him to wake up so badly. If he could just see his beautiful eyes again he would know that he was ok. Heero placed a hand against Duo's fevered forehead. His fever was also falling, just not as fast as he would have liked. Duo made a content sigh as he felt the warmth of Heero's hand on him, but didn't wake up. The silence was broken as Heero's laptop beeped, informing him of an incoming message. He accepted it and J's image appeared on screen.

"Heero, I just received your report from your last mission. I am displeased that you had to rely on 02 to get it finished."

"I apologize," Heero said, "but the mission was successful." J snorted.

"It seems there is nothing I can say to that. We have received information that a base in the southern quadrant of your area is transporting raw Gundanium. We do not know why, but the transports must be destroyed. If you can, steal the Gundanium, if not, it must be destroyed. The transports will be heavily guarded, so all five Gundams will be needed." Heero bit his lip. Duo wasn't ready for a mission like this.

"When do we move out?"

"The transport is scheduled in one week." Heero relaxed. With the rate that Duo's wounds were healing, he should be fine by then.

"Mission accepted."

"I will send you all of the information tomorrow morning. End transmission." Heero shut down his laptop.

"Mmm, Hee-chan?" Duo murmured weakly from the bed. Heero was by his side like a shot.

"Duo?!" Duo gazed up at him deliriously, his eyes low-lidded.

"Hmm?"

"Are you alright?"

"Mmm, sleepy." Heero smiled and caught up in the moment, he kissed him lightly on the forehead.

"I noticed, get some rest." Heero stared deep into amethyst pools as Duo yawned.

"M'kay," Duo fell back to sleep. Relief flooded his entire being. He didn't even care that he had kissed him. Hell, even that little intimate move had felt great. What Trowa had told him spurred him forward. He vowed that when Duo was awake and coherent, he _would_ tell him how he felt.

"I don't care what you are," Heero said out loud, "it doesn't change a damn thing."

Heero didn't have to wait for long as Duo finally awoke fully the next morning. Duo groaned as he felt he had been hit by a truck. Heero helped his sit up as he was still weak and slightly disoriented from the meds he was on.

"Heero… what happened?" He murmured.

"You've lost a lot of blood." Duo looked away in shame as it all came to him. Heero had seen his true form… did he remember it or had Heero been in too much pain to remember.

'Oh, please, please, don't let him have remembered!' Heero saw his pleading look.

"We need to talk about what happened, Duo." Duo paled.

"You don't disgust me." Duo stared at him in shock.

"But, Heero-!" Heero glared at him.

"No, Duo, no buts." Duo wrapped his arms around his legs and rested his head against his knees. Heero rubbed his back, heart crying as Duo flinched from him.

"Duo, what's wrong?"

"I'm a monster!" Duo cried against his pajama bottoms. He looked up at Heero and Heero was shocked to see tears streaming down his cheeks. Heero sighed.

"Duo, you're not a monster! You're beautiful." Duo's eyes hardened.

"That's a lie, I'm a freak."

"No, you're not," Heero said strongly. He was going to beat this into him even if it took all day.

"Yes, I am!" Duo practically screamed, but Heero saw in his eyes that he wanted desperately for him to be proven wrong. Heero brushed a stray lock of hair away from Duo's face.

"Oh, really? Funny, even in your other form, you still look like the same Duo to me. Though, a bit cuter, kitty." Duo blinked at the pet name.

"Heero?" Heero took the chance to press his lips against Duo's. The kiss was sweet and soft and the two seemed frozen even as they broke apart. Heero finally broke the silence and cupped Duo's cheek.

"I'm no good at this and I don't understand this feeling all that much but, Duo, I love you and…," he took a deep breath, "I want to be with you like Trowa is with Quatre so, will you be my boyfriend?" Duo's expression turned desperate and sad.

"Heero, I'm not human."

"I don't care about that!" Heero snapped.

"I don't even know if I can make love with you." Heero shook his head.

"We can figure that out if we get to it. If not… I don't care. I mean, it would be nice to make love to you, but if that's the difference between having a relationship or not, I want to love you, sex or not." Duo's expression softened.

"Heero, I _do_ love you. Very much," he looked away from Heero. "If you can feel that way, too, even knowing what I am, then, I want very much for us to have something special. But you have to understand, I'm not human and I never will be." Heero nodded.

"You're you, that's all there is to it." Duo smiled brightly.

"Go to sleep, Duo. We can talk about everything later. Right now, you're still sick and you need to rest."

"Heero, have you told the others?" Heero shook his head.

"It's your place, not mine. If you want me to tell them, then I will."

'You are kind and understanding,' Duo thought of Heero and how his knowledge of what he was and how little that had changed things, 'even when you are trying your best not to be. Maybe too much so. Same with Quatre and the others, but I wonder how they would react if they learned what I really am? Would they be that kind even then?'

Trowa looked at his sleepy love after a long session of love making. Fortunately, the walls had been slightly soundproofed so Wufei wasn't yelling at them for once.

"Trow?" Quatre murmured sleepily.

"Yes?"

"I love you," Quatre smiled, his empathy of what was going on in Duo's room filled his heart with happiness. Finally, those two had stopped beating around the damn bush!

"As do I," Trowa frowned.

"What's the matter?" Quatre asked, concerned.

"You realize that Heero is hiding something from us, right?" Quatre sighed.

"Yes, I don't need my space heart to tell me that."

"Remember how Heero had said he had almost drowned and Duo had to save him?" Quatre nodded, "well, when Heero came in with Duo, neither of their clothes were wet! And those bruises on Duo's body when Heero came back unscathed don't add up to Heero's story!"

"I know," Quatre said, "but I'm sure Duo did save him."

"Yes, but we're a team. We're supposed to tell each other these sorts of things." Quatre put a hand on Trowa's arm.

"Just let it go." Trowa sighed.

In the end, Duo just wasn't comfortable about telling the others about what he really was, but he told Heero as much as he could while he was confined to his bed until his fever broke.

"I'm a Gaiiji. I'm not from this world." Heero raised an eyebrow.

"So, you're an alien."

"Not really," Duo struggled to explain. "I'm from a different dimension. Gaiiji have the ability to mimic other creatures that they live with, which is how I can hold this form," he gestured to his human body, "but our original forms are a mix of humanoid features and the features of a specific animal. We also have some magical abilities which is how I was able to transfer your wounds onto me." Heero shook his head.

"You shouldn't have done that. You almost died." Duo smiled.

"I'd do it again, even if it made me sick."

"But… you said a specific animal; is there an animal in your world that has wings, cat ears, and a tail?" Duo paled and shook a little.

"Shit, Duo, I'm sorry."

"It's ok," Duo murmured, rubbing his arm in a nervous gesture, "among my people, I'm an abomination. That's one of the reasons why I fled hear." Heero stared at him.

"But why?"

"In my world, those with black wings are thought to be the spawn of barbaric Gaiiji and are enslaved as a lesser species. But, I'm also a hybrid. Gaiiji are only allowed to procreate with their own species. Procreation between a black wing and another species is considered disgusting and amoral. My mom was a panther and my dad was a black wing. So, I was born a black wing hybrid, which is the worst of the worst. My mother tried to hide me, but we were discovered. My dad sold us out; she was killed and I was sold into slavery. So, when I got my full powers at puberty, I escaped to this world. And I'm glad. I got to meet you," Duo murmured, downcast. Heero wrapped his arms around his boyfriend, letting him rub his face against his shoulder to hide his pain. Heero saw red. How could anyone enslave a bunch of people just because of what they looked like? Hell, that sort of thing had been outlawed on Earth centuries ago.

"You're wings are beautiful," Heero murmured against his hair, "those scars on your back…" Heero felt his shirt become wet as Duo cried a little.

"My master liked to see me in pain. It was my punishment for being… well, me. He was… so evil," Duo shuddered. Heero stroked his hair.

"No more, Duo. I will never hurt you and I won't let anyone else either, not like that." Duo smiled, settling into Heero's embrace.

"I love you, Heero."

"I love you, too."

The week passed too quickly for Heero's liking. Duo's wounds healed nicely and all signs of his illness disappeared. On the fourth day, they finally got around to telling the rest of their friends that they were dating which resulted in Wufei muttering 'it's about time', Trowa congratulating them, and Quatre glomped Duo. The small time of peace was welcome, but they had work to do.

"You got everything?" Wufei asked Duo right before they prepared to launch their Gundams. Duo nodded.

"First Aid, rations, blankets; everything's in Deathscythe." Wufei smiled and placed a hand on Duo's shoulder.

"I know this might seem out of character for me to say so, but it's good to have you back, Maxwell." Wufei walked away to the hatch of Shenlong. Duo smiled, watching Heero pack Wing. They wouldn't be coming back to this safe house after they completed the mission.

"Yeah, it's good to be back," he rubbed at one of his recent scars on his arm. Duo blinked as Heero waved a hand in front of his face.

"You ok?" Duo perked up.

"Yep. Let's go!"

'I shouldn't have to worry about him anymore,' Heero thought as he watched Duo's braid swing back and forth as he checked his Gundams systems. 'He's super human but still… I love him so I can't help but worry for his safety and try to keep on protecting him.

"Do you see anything?" Quatre asked Heero as Wing ahead of them and Shenlong, Deathscythe, Sandrock, and Heavyarms approached their target on the ground.

"Negative."

'Shit,' Quatre thought, 'the cargo should have reached this point by now!' He stared off into the horizon, looking desperately for any sign of their target. Suddenly, bright silver light shone in the cockpit. He gasped in awe.

"So beautiful," he murmured, enthralled by the shimmering light. The self-destruct siren blared and red light flashed to deaf ears and blind eyes.

Duo felt a freezing chill shoot through him.

'This feeling is so familiar, but something is blocking my senses!'

"There!" Trowa shouted as a wave of mobile suits appeared in his line of vision; at least twice as much as J had informed them of.

"Shit!" Heero swore, with his friends so close to the squadron, he could only use his beam saber. Trowa looked to Quatre's suit and gaped in horror as Sandrock began to glow.

"Quatre!" He screamed.

Deathscythe's hatch opened in the midst of the battlefield. Duo ignored Heero's screaming over the comm. unit and emerged in his ethereal form; black wings spread, and fire in his glowing, amethyst eyes. His wings flapped and he flew towards Sandrock.

'I have to make it,' he chanted over and over, spedding towards the self-destructing Gundam. He touched its smooth surface as he landed and hissed in pain. The Gundanium allow of 04's outer hatch was literally boiling. Duo hooked his hands into the top of the cockpit door and, ignoring the smell of his own burning flesh, tapped into his super strength, and wrenched the steaming door off even as his muscles tore at the amount of force he needed to exert.

Trowa and Wufei could only look on in horror and astonishment as the feline ethereal that was once Duo flew to save their friend and lover from the inevitable disaster. Heero, however, had a different idea. He dispatched all of the suits that were nearing Sandrock and Deathscythe and piloted Wing to Sandrock.

'If you think that I'm just going to sit around while you risk your life, you are greatly mistaken, Duo Maxwell! C'mon, baby, get the fuck out of there!'

As Duo entered the cockpit, he was enveloped in a spray of steam. He coughed harshly as it flooded his lungs, searing his insides even as his ethereal body worked in over time to heal his wounds. He searched blindly through the smoke and sparks. He finally managed to grasp Quatre's harness. His fingernails grew and sharpened into claws and he slashed through the tough leather like it was warm butter. He wrapped his arms around the small Arabian and flew out of the exploding Gundam. As Quatre was much lighter than Heero, Duo was able to get into the air quickly, flapping as hard as he could as he heard an excruciatingly loud boom sounded behind him, throbbing in his ears, and hellfire was at his back, just like his last mission.

Heero winced in fright as Duo escaped right ahead of the explosion. Heero extended Wings arm to catch Duo as he was flung through the air by the explosion and lost all control of his flight. Wing immediately took flight with its back to the fire, protecting the two boys in its hands. Both Trowa and Wufei tried to move their Gundams, but it seemed that only Heero's was operating. All of their systems were frozen.

'What the fuck?!' Trowa thought, 'this is a dream. Duo was wings, Quatre self-destructs for no reason, and now everything seems to be frozen in time!' Trowa noted as he suddenly realized that even the enemy suits weren't moving. Then, right before the boys' eyes, the very scenery, everything including their Gundams, melted away. Suddenly, they were in a prison cell. Duo stood before them in all of his angelic, feline glory. Wufei stared at him. As a scholar, he just could not accept what his eyes were telling him. Duo handed Quatre to Trowa who still seemed to be in shock. Duo stepped back and brought his wings into his body with a pained expression. As they disappeared, a few ebony feathers floated elegantly to the ground, the only evidence of his transformation. Quatre watched all of this silently from his lover's arms.

"I… don't believe it!" Wufei mumbled. Duo smiled at him.

"I can understand. When I was little, I couldn't believe humans existed. But, I assure you I am very much real; this is not a dream. You're going to have to accept it sooner or later." Trowa, who seemed to be taking all of this much better than Wufei, nodded in a daze.

"Duo, what just happened?" Heero asked. Duo looked sad.

"It seems that Quatre, all of us, are under a Gaiiji's spell?" Heero paled.

"There are more of you here on Earth?" Duo shrugged.

"I have no idea. I've never felt any others except for now."

"Hold on!" Wufei snapped, glaring at Heero, "you knew about him and you never told us!"

"Yes," Heero confirmed, "during our last mission, Duo had to change to save me."

"I thought so," Trowa muttered.

"But I decided not to tell you. I was too scared." Wufei sighed.

"I guess it's understandable."

"But what are you?" Trowa asked. Duo managed to tell them everything that he told Heero. He got sad looks from all of them and he knew then that they would get over this, that they were still a family. Then, the door swung open. A middle aged brunette man wearing an OZ uniform came in. Duo shuddered.

'He's so empty. All I feel is a strong negative life force. He's definitely human though. A Gaiiji must have sucked him dry and is using him as a puppet. Turov sneered at the five of them. Duo tried to attack him with his power, but his abilities seemed to have been blocked by a superior magic. If there was a Gaiiji in the area, it did not matter if they weren't handcuffed; they wouldn't be able to escape without Duo's help.

"I expected a lot more from the infamous Gundam pilots! For the threat that given OZ so much trouble, I thought you would put up more of a fight! Who knew that you could be defeated so easily!" Turov laughed at them. Duo glared at their captor.

"What do you want with us, besides the obvious?"

"The obvious? Ah, I see! You think I'm going to interrogate you!" Turov leered at him, "I'm afraid you're very wrong!" He moved in front of Duo, he grabbed his braid, and crushed the ethereal's lips against his. Heero roared and tried to leap at him, but found that he couldn't move at all. Then, all of them except for Duo were thrown against the wall by an invisible force.

"Bastard!" Wufei yelled as Turov drew back suddenly with a small trickle of blood down his chin. It took the others a few seconds to realize that Duo had bitten his tongue. Turov smiled coldly as he wiped the blood away.

"Feisty. Too bad, if you would just submit this would go a lot easier for you. But then where would the fun for me be?" He slapped Duo hard, sending the boy to the ground. He smirked as he brought out a whip from his belt.

"Please, don't try to move too much, the last thing I want is to hit those gorgeous eyes of yours."

Miori watched from the control room as his puppet whipped the braided youth. Yun stood next to him, sending Turov commands telepathically. His little Nyet was still so beautiful. He wished that he was the one making him bleed, just like when he was his slave. He frowned each time the whip sliced through the other Gaiiji's soft skin, but Nyet just had to learn his lesson. He had freed him of his spell just enough that he could curl into a ball to protect himself. Miori loved to see him in such a submissive pose. The soot wing was doing quite a good job of not showing how much pain he was in. Just like how he had trained him. It was much more enjoyable to force the screams from him. Soon, his entire delectable body was covered in crimson blood. Yun didn't understand how humans coped. If the soot-wing hadn't been a Gaiiji he would have been dead by now. Humans were so damn week. How could the little whore be willing to live among them. Miori sighed as he watched Turov.

'He's too trusting. Does he really think that I won't kill him for hurting my property, especially since he's a human… I'll enjoy eating him.'

Duo cried out as the whip hit him hard once again. He had forgotten what pain like this felt like. But he wouldn't be broken, not again. He remembered a childhood filled with fear and humiliation. He remembered being beaten and raped and tortured and treated like an animal. He remembered being so reliant on his master after years of abuse and he refused to go back to that horrible state. He would not wear a collar again. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched his friends struggle in their bonds as they watched him being beaten. Then, the blows stopped. Turov ran his tongue against Duo's neck, following the scars that had been left by a very tight collar from his childhood. Duo whimpered and squeezed his eyes shut.

"Usually I do a bit more foreplay, but I'm not getting paid by the hour and my employer said to make it quick, so sorry. This may hurt a bit." Tears streamed down Quatre's face as he was helpless to watch his best friend being raped. Heero, Trowa, and Wufei screamed at the evil man uselessly. Turov unzipped Duo's jeans.

'NO! Never again! If I ever have sex again it'll because I want it!' Duo's mind screamed. It seemed as if every fiber of his body was on fire with a mysterious energy.

Turov sneered at the body below him and started to slip the boy's jeans off his slender hips.

Everything at that moment happened so fast, it seemed like a dream. Duo's eyes shot open, the irises the only thing visible, they glowed a brilliant violet fire as the room filled with pure, violent energy and Turov was thrown off of him.

Duo stood up. His braid unraveled and his hair flowed and whipped like snakes behind him as though the strands had minds of their own. Turov laid on the ground or at least what was left of him. Duo tilted his head back and a monsoon of indescribable energy blasted and flowed in every direction. Then, everything faded away again.

Miori walked through the charred ground that used to be the second most powerful OZ base with a smirk.

'Stupid Turov. Did you really think I would let you touch _him_ that way? I made you my puppet, but gave you enough free will to do with him what you wanted and you thought that there wasn't anything suspicious about that? Idiot! I only needed you to do something to make him use his full power. I can't touch him with his power that high. But now he's weak enough to put my real plan into action.'

Heero laid Duo on the bed and tucked him in.

'It seems that every time we go on a mission together, one of us has to drag the other back, injured and unconscious. Oh, well. At least you're just exhausted this time.' It was true all of Duo's injuries had miraculously healed and now all five of them were here in the same room, sitting around Duo's bed, thinking in complete silence. Finally, Quatre spoke up.

"What's going on?" Trowa patted him on the head.

"It's ok. We're still trying to figure it all out."

"I think we deserve some answers!" Wufei grounded out, looking at Duo in concern.

"Until Duo wakes up, there's nothing more I can tell you. Duo's already told you everything he told me," Heero said, holding Duo's hand. Trowa sighed.

"If he used to be a slave, I think his kind would be looking for him. Maybe that's what's happening." Quatre nodded sadly.

"We have to protect him. I mean, I don't think there's much we can do against an enemy like this, but we have to do _something_." All of their gazes settled on Duo once more. They felt so lost.


	2. Chapter 2

Midnight Serenade

Chapter 2

Duo awoke with a start, sitting up quickly and fell into Heero, who had been perched on his bed, watching him sleep.

"Ack!" Duo cried, unprepared to have met anything solid, let alone another person. They fell off the bed and onto the floor. The two of them untangled, embarrassed. Heero took the chance to grab Duo's wrist, holding him still, and kissed him fiercely. He poured all of his fear, anger, love, and passion into that kiss. The image of Duo, blood smeared on his back, his pants being pulled down, with that monster behind him tore at his heart. Duo blinked as they came up for air.

"That was… nice."

"Sorry," Heero apologized for bumping into him, "I was just waiting for you to wake up." Duo smiled.

"Well, I'm certainly up now!" Heero smiled back.

"Once you get breakfast and get dressed, will you take a walk with me? Quatre and Trowa are in town, getting supplies and Wufei is hiding our Gundams. He managed to find them with the tracker that's implanted in them." Duo finally realized that he was in a strange place. He had never been to this safe house before.

"Ok," he said, intertwining his fingers with Heero's, "there's some stuff we need to talk about."

The safe house was one of the more immaculate ones, with a cherry blossom orchard in the back. Heero smiled as they walked through the orchard. Duo looked on in awe at the blooming cherry blossoms. This was one of the many things on Earth that Duo loved that he didn't have in his home world. Etenesizen had trees, but none as beautiful as Earth's. Truthfully, he didn't miss Etenesizen at all. Duo stopped walking every time a gentle breeze blew a storm of petals from the trees.

"Beautiful," he murmured.

"Yeah," Heero responded, not looking at the trees. He cleared his throat.

"Duo?" The braided boy turned to face him.

"Yeah?"

"There are things that I need to know about you." Duo sighed.

"I know. I'll explain everything."

"How did you get here?"

"Well," Duo paused, thinking of how best to explain it, "there's a space between worlds that acts as a sort of vacuum. Gaiiji have discovered a type of magic that enables us to move through that space. However, we cannot use any other power when we're moving in this space, or our physical bodies get torn apart. Also, when moving between worlds, we become powerless for days and once the space has been occupied in travel, no one can pass through it for weeks. Kind of like elastic that has been stretched too much. When using the magic to pass through worlds, all you really need to do is think of the place you need to go to. My mother used to tell me stories about this world. So, when I needed to escape, this place was all I could think about," Duo sighed, "Etenesizen, my home world, used to be like Earth; beautiful with mixed races and loves. But, centuries ago, war hit us hard. Mixed races were purged and rare species were enslaved." Heero frowned. It was so horrible…

"But if that's true, wouldn't there be more of your kind here?"  
"There are rules. Dimensional travel is controlled by those with superior magic. Dimensional travel magic can only be done in spatially 'thin' areas where dimensional rifts occur and only those with permission from our masters can even enter those areas. I managed to get in to one of those areas by," he blushed, "servicing one of the masters that controlled it." Heero paled. "But, I'm sure he told my master what had happened right after. My master's name is Miori and I'm sure that he's the reason that all of this is happening. Because of the number of worlds I could have traveled to, I have no idea how he found me!" Duo rubbed at his eyes. Heero hugged him tightly.

"Heero, I did terrible things when I was his slave. Nasty things…" Duo didn't have to say anything more.

"Those things on your back… he raped you." Duo nodded.

"Among other things." Heero clenched his fists.

"I'll protect you. Somehow," he muttered against Duo's hair. Duo rubbed his head against his chest.

"Thank you so much." They stood like that for awhile, just relaxing in each other's presence. Still, horrible images of Duo in bondage and pain, being raped by some horrible creature, filled Heero. He would _never_ let anyone touch his love like that ever again. He didn't have any powers, but he didn't care.

"Do you have _anyone_ waiting for you in your homeland."

"No," Duo said somberly, "the four of you are the only family I have left," he clutched tightly at Heero's tank top. "Besides, I like being free." Heero found that there was nothing he could say to that. Duo was right, even if he had friends he had left behind, he would just be a slave again. Not just a slave, but a sex slave as it sounded like. "I don't just fight in this war because it's the right thing to do, but because I love this planet and I don't want it to turn into another Etenesizen."

"You care too much," Heero murmured affectionately, petting Duo's hair. Duo didn't say anything, lost in Heero's warmth.

"Don't worry," Heero said, kissing the top of his head, "I'll protect you. You're part of our family now. We won't let you go so easily." Heero placed Duo's hands in his own. Heero leaned in close enough for their noses to touch in a sweet Eskimo kiss. Duo's breath caught as Heero's scent filled him. A light blush spread across his cheeks. Heero tilted his head and kissed him; their lips moved against each others and Heero took a chance, slipping his tongue past Duo's lips a little bit. Duo opened his lips in acceptance and sucked on Heero's tongue lightly.

Duo shoved Heero to the ground as a chain flew from the air and wrapped itself around Duo's slender throat. Duo grasped the chain and tugged as the chain tightened. Yun appeared at the other end of the chain, smirking coldly. Duo recognized him immediately as his master… no, _Miori's_ lover. Duo felt phantom pain attack every nerve at even thinking of his ex-master's real name. Fear tugged at his heart. He remembered how Miori would pass him to Yun and how Yun liked to burn him when they were fucking him at the same time. He shuddered around the chain. He had to get Heero out of here!

"What's the matter, Nyet?" Duo flinched at the name, "aren't you happy to see me?" Heero reached for his gun, only to realize that if the creature before him was like Duo, in this form he wouldn't be hurt by mere bullets. Duo gasped for breath against the choking chain.

"Oh dear, I forgot," Yun's voice was cold yet oddly gleeful, "you're low on energy, aren't you? Too bad, looks like your surinn will have to watch while I retrain you." Duo's struggles grew at the derogatory term for 'human'. It had been so long since he had heard those words. And that name 'Nyet', he had hoped never to hear that hateful word ever again. Yun jerked at the chain, sending Duo to his knees. He licked his pale lips. He loved seeing the little slut like that. Duo coughed harshly at the sudden jerking around his neck. The chain unwound from his neck and snaked around his wrists like handcuffs. Yun attempted to pull his captive forward. Duo put all of his remaining strength into staying where he was, but he had little to none magic left in him after killing Turov and getting them back to a safe house and he was damn lucky it had worked. But now it seemed it had been all for naught. At least Quatre, Trowa, and Wufei were temporarily out of danger.

"Come now, boy, it's time to go back to where you belong," Yun snarled and tugged extra hard, forcing Duo to the ground. Duo's eyes narrowed at him and his pupils turned a startling red-silver.

"THIS is where I belong!" Duo screamed. A wave of energy flowed through the chain and broke the metal. Yun frowned as the chain rusted, turned to dust, and sifted through his fingers.

"Seems like we've greatly underestimated you," he gritted out, furious.

'It's impossible!' He thought, 'he doesn't have the energy to form even the slightest magic and yet he had enough to make an attack!' Yun's icy gaze turned to Heero, whose eyes were furious with indecision. It couldn't be possible…

Heero had no idea what to do. His lover was in trouble and there wasn't anything he could do about it.

"You are to come back with me," Yun snarled as Duo managed to pick himself up and move back in front of Heero, attempting to protect him somehow.

"Need you forget, Nyet, you belong to us!" Duo clenched his fists.

"My name is Duo and I belong to no one!" Heero smiled.

'That's right, Duo. You are your own person. No one has the right to control you.'

"A Gaiiji living on Earth?! It's preposterous! Humans are cattle! They have no magic, no strength. The only creatures in the universe that are more useless are you soot-wings." Duo flinched again at the slur. "You _will_ come back with me." Duo growled; a startling feral sound.

"These 'cattle' you are referring to are my family! They are not much different than us and magic essence bares little strength here on Earth compared to their emotions. We have no right to judge these humans just because they do not possess the ability to gather spiritual energy." Yun was growing impatient. They should have left by now, but he couldn't risk the boy using his power when they were traveling. He would have to settle for completely wearing him out, even if he no longer had any idea how much power he had. Duo took a step back as Yun moved forward. Heero placed his hands on Duo's shoulders.

"Duo who is that guy?" Heero whispered into Duo's ear.

"My master's lover," Duo murmured. Heero glared at the white feline.

"Just how did you find me anyway," Duo's eyes narrowed in suspicion, "there's no way you could have known which world I was in." Yun grinned.

"Konyatvis." Cold filled Duo. Heero watched in confusion as the color disappeared from Duo's skin and the air seemed to fill with cold, fear, and anger.

"You stupid shit! Piece of fucking _filth_!" Duo snarled. Heero paled. He had never seen him so furious. He wished he knew what they were talking about. Yun clenched his fists as Duo swore at him.

"How dare you speak to me like that?! You are our property and I will do what I like to you. It seems like we needed to beat your training into you once again," Yun grinned toothily, "it's your own fault we're here anyway. Not only did you have the audacity to try to escape from us, but you were dumb enough to use your power." Duo gritted his teeth. How could he have been so stupid? He had led them right to him!

"That is one of the mistakes that Miori made when raising you. He should have simply broken you as quickly as he could and kept you chained up in your cage so you could never escape. My love was very lenient. But we learn from our mistakes. We should have clipped your wings before training you to eat from our hands." Heero saw red, furious at Yun's referring to Duo as an animal. "Enough of this," Yun's temper flared once more, "I've wasted enough time already. We've come here to take back what's ours and that's what I will do." Yun raised his clawed hand which glowed with a visibly blue energy.

"Come here or I can kill some of your human friends…"

"No!" Duo stepped in front of Heero to protect him. Yun's smile was sinister.

"Ah, I see," he said, his tone thick with disgust, "you have 'special feelings' for this animal. Stupid child," he spat, "do you expect a _human_ to care for you?" Duo glared, but he felt a tiny flare of uncertainty blossom inside of his heart.

"What are you talking about?" Duo snapped. Heero stared at him. Did Duo really think that he didn't care for him? He had thought that they had been through all of this already. But, Heero supposed that Duo's insecurities ran deeper than he thought.

"Don't you get it?" The white cat bared his fangs, his silvery eyes bore into Heero, who shuddered at the eerie gaze, "That surinn is only using you for your powers." Duo's resolve faltered. He couldn't wrap his mind around why Heero would be in love with him, but he didn't want to believe that Heero would be so shallow. Heero watched all of this in anger, but he couldn't make up Duo's mind for him. He had explained his feelings and it was up to Duo to decide whether or not their relationship was real.

"No," he shook his head, murmuring, "That's not true."

"Really?" Yun persisted, giddy at seeing their old pet in such emotional trauma; it served the Nyet right for falling in love for a human of all things, "I beg to differ. Why else would a human want to be around you, especially when he knows exactly what you are? Not only are you _not human_, even amongst your own people, you're a freak." Duo's low self-esteem overwhelmed him. Heero glared at Yun in hate for making his lover look so sad.

"I don't care," Duo gritted out. It was finally Yun's turn to be startled. Heero felt happy at seeing Duo take control of the situation again. Though, that statement shocked him as well. Duo bowed his head and his bangs covered over his eyes, but Heero knew him well enough that there were tears in his beautiful eyes.

"I don't care whether or not Heero is using me. I love him. If I can help him, if I can at least pretend that he cares about me, it is enough. I'll do what I can to make the m all happy. Quatre… Trowa… Wufei… Heero… Their happiness is the most important thing to me. But beyond that, I know Heero and I trust him. If he says that he loves me no matter what, then _I believe him_," Duo's words burned pleasantly inside of Heero, "I don't expect you to understand such a complicated, selfless feeling as all you care about is your own vices. However, it does not matter what you say to me. I will die before you accomplish any goals. I've lived my entire life terrified of you and Miori, but now I have no choice but to stand up to you. I will not go back with you and I will not be under anyone's control ever again. This is not a wish, it is a fact. So, I'm afraid you've come all this way for nothing." Duo looked at Yun defiantly, his voice bold as he spoke, but Heero could see how pale he was and how he shook. He could only imagine what Duo's life had been like under two cruel masters. Seeing Duo like this, Heero couldn't help but feel a surge of pride. Yun growled and released a bam of energy right at Duo and Heero.

Duo held up his hands in a defensive maneuver, creating a barrier of shimmering energy around himself and Heero. The beam seemed to be absorbed by the large barrier. Yun growled again in annoyance.

"How the fuck do you have energy?!" Duo frowned in concentration. How was it that he had energy? His body was taxed and exhausted, yet every time Yun attacked, he was able to counter. It seemed like every time he thought of Heero and his family, the energy flooded his body. But, even with this bizarre unending source of energy, he couldn't form attacks if his body wasn't able to keep up and he was wearing fast. He had to end this, somehow, but Yun was so much stronger than him and Duo had already used up most of his power in the last forty-eight hours. He could barely stay awake or stand up and he couldn't keep the barrier up for much longer. As Duo was deep in thought and concentration, Yun focused his own energy. The ground cracked and the wind whipped his silver hair around him like snakes all because of the immense energy he was summoning. He gathered the energy into a wave and sent it at Duo, whose shield was weakening as his body shook with strain. Duo, realizing that Heero wouldn't survive the attack if the shield wasn't strong enough, unfolded his wings and flew Heero out of the way of the blast. Heero, who was so used to protecting others, wasn't used to Duo taking care of him like this. He wanted to fight against this monster so badly it felt like his body was burning. Duo dropped Heero from his grasp as they landed safely away from the blast and panted slightly.

'Fuck,' Duo thought, 'I can't keep up with Yun.' Suddenly, thick, tentacle weeds that Duo was all too familiar with shot out from the ground and wrapped themselves around Duo.

"Fuck!" Duo cried out loud as he felt the energy that he had somehow managed to collect being drained by the vines. Heero was unable to help as Duo seemed to be caught in an electrical field. Duo fell limp against the vines as the last of his energy was taken from him.

"Duo!" Heero yelled. He ran forward and collided with the field and gritted his teeth as electricity flowed through his body painfully. Yun laughed at him.

"Too bad, it looks like I'll have to kill you now. That'll go a long way to breaking him down again." Yun raised his hand and a familiar blue energy surrounded him. Heero felt rage fill him like a fiery blaze. He _would_ help Duo, even if it was just breaking through this goddamn barrier and holding him…

Suddenly, fire surrounded Heero and destroyed the barrier and vines. Arcs of fire like claws tore through Yun and burning him. Heero didn't have the time to cheer as the cat bled profusely and disappeared into thin air with a yowl of anger and pain. Duo was lying on the ground looking broken and pale. That was the only thing that mattered. Heero would deal with the strange unknown fire and the enemy Gaiiji later. Duo struggled to get up, dry heaving and swaying alarmingly. His vision grayed as his nerves felt like they were on fire. He felt like his stomach was trying to crawl out of his throat. Duo moaned and tried to focus his eyes to see where Heero was, but the longer he concentrated on staying on two legs, the worse he felt. Still, he felt his tension disappear a little as he felt Heero's strong hands on his shoulders, steadying him. Heero gently wrapped an arm around Duo's waist to keep him upright. He had to get him to bed before he collapsed.

"Hold on and stay still!" Heero hissed as his boyfriend squirmed to try to walk on his own. Duo could be so stubborn and self reliant to the point of harm. Sure, he loved that about him, but at times like this it could be a real problem. Duo squeezed his eyes shut, hoping that a lack of vision would make him feel less queasy. He finally gave up and leaned against Heero, feeling better on his muscled side. Even as Duo struggled, he kept a tab on Yun's dwindling energy. The feline was still alive, but he was badly hurt. Duo knew that Miori would be pissed at knowing that his lover had almost been killed, but would have better sense than to run into a battle unprepared so they would be able to relax in peace for awhile. As long as he kept close tabs on their energy signatures, he would be able to know if they appeared near him. Of course, they were both able to hide their energy signatures, but there was always the off chance that Miori would slip up. Confident in the fact that they would not be attacked again, Duo allowed himself to fall unconscious.

Heero panicked as Duo went limp in his grasp. He gathered the boy into his arms and made his way back to the house. He had no idea how to take care of Duo anymore. He only hoped that Duo's unusual abilities would be able to heal him. Heero slipped into the safe house quietly, instantly glad that the others were still not back. He promised himself that he would tell them everything when they returned. They, like him, were helpless, but they deserved to know the truth. He tucked Duo into bed, worried that the boy made no movement, but there really was nothing he could do. Physically, the worst of Duo's wounds were bruises from the vines and chains. Heero pulled up a chair next to the bed and watched his partner sleep. Miraculously, as he slept, his bruises slowly disappeared and color reappeared on his skin.

'What's going to happen to all of us?' Heero wondered as he stroked Duo's hair; more of a comfort for himself than Duo, 'That creature almost killed me and stole you away from us. You're the only one who can stop him. I'm totally helpless to protect you! Fuck, I hate this feeling! I want to be the one to save you, yet you're the one who has to help me… there must be something I can do… that fire… how did Duo do that? That fire surrounded me… but it didn't burn me like it did Yun.' Heero tried to get up to pace and think, only to find that something was holding him back. Duo had grabbed his shirt in a surprisingly tight grip. Heero smiled.

"Alright," he murmured, sitting back down and stroking Duo's hair again with one hand and grabbing one of Duo's with his other. Duo's hand tightened in his and Duo made a small whimpering sound. He twitched a little. Heero recognized all of the signs of a very bad nightmare even though Duo was too exhausted to move around much. He also understood what Duo wanted as his hand tightened more on more on him. He slid into bed with him, pulling Duo against him. He felt Duo relax a little. On mutual agreement they had decided not to take the final step with sex. After meeting one of Duo's former masters, Heero realized that it had much less to do with Duo worrying what would happen if he lost control and more about what had happened to him in the past. Heero paled a little; images of disgusting things with Duo, his beautiful Duo, being subjected to them made rage rise once more in his gut. He didn't care if they never had sex; he would never put Duo through that kind of torment. Still, pressed against him like this… Heero was ashamed to know that he would be waking up with a hard on. He only hoped that that wouldn't cause Duo more distress.

Heero was right on both accounts. He did wake up with a raging erection and, to make things even worse, Duo was again tense. Heero untangled himself from his boyfriend. He wasn't doing him any favors by being aroused and pressed against him like that. So, instead, he let Duo sleep and left to take a cold shower.

End chapter 2

I want to take the time now to thank everyone who has ever reviewed any of my works. If you're a fellow fanfiction writer you understand how wonderful it is to get validation for something you love to do. So, thank you everyone. On November 1st I will be participating in a program called Nanowrimo or National Novel Writing Month in which, in a mere month, I must write a 50,000 word novel. Unfortunately, this means that it will be very difficult for me to write fanfiction during this month, but I will try hard to accomplish both. I also encourage all writers to participate in this project as your finished works get published by a free publishing company associated with the project. Okay, the weird words I'm using in this fic will be explained in the next two chapters.


	3. Chapter 3

Midnight Serenade

Chapter 3

Author's Note: This chapter deals exclusively with Duo's past. The next chapter will go back to the present, but it is important to see the past as well. This chapter includes some detailed violence, gore, rape, and several squick factors which may disturb you including slavery, mutilation, pedophilia, and torture.

Ten years ago

"Ssh," Anya murmured against her son's soft hair, wrapping her large black wings around him lovingly as he struggled to silence his cries against her stomach.

"It's going to be okay, baby," she tried to reassure him as they hid in an abandoned shed deep in the woods. She stroked his hair, which was getting quite long for a five year old, but she had to admit, it made him look even more beautiful. She could only imagine what would happen to her poor child if they were caught. But, she vowed to protect him with her last breath. Even as young as he was, Duo understood the danger they were in after having fled home after home and tried his hardest to not make a sound. His ears twitched as he heard another sound from far away.

"They're coming." Anya nodded.

"I know, which is why we have to be very, very quiet, ok? You tell me if they get any closer, alright?" Duo nodded against his mother's brown dress. Despite being in such danger, he felt safe with her wings around them. Why did everyone hate them so much? He hadn't done anything wrong, had he? He just wanted him and his mother to live in peace. Yet, everywhere they went they were chased. He didn't know what would happen if they were caught, just that it was something very bad if his mother was so scared. He also felt a surge of pride that she was relying on him to keep them safe. He knew he was different. He could hear and smell things that his mother could not and he had furry ears and a tail where she did not.

"I'm scared, mommy," he sniffed, looking into her violet eyes for comfort. She smiled down at him, stroking his ears and large wings, the same color as hers. She loved her child so much, she just wished his father had loved him as well. Duo was beautiful, not despite his abnormalities, but because of them. The child was so precious, he didn't understand why the way he looked caused such an uproar. Anya had loved Naythan once, but after his reaction to their baby, she hoped he roasted in hell. She knew that it was him who had told everyone where they were. It was because of him that they were on the run. The worst was that nothing had happened to him while she knew that she and her baby would probably be executed.

"I know," she told Duo, "but I'll protect you."

"Mommy, you have to wake up!" Anya blinked her eyes open blearily as she felt someone shaking her. She was up in an instant, tucking a thick strand of curly auburn hair back behind her ear. Duo's concerned gaze met hers.

"What's wrong, honey?"

"They're almost here," he whispered, terrified.

"Ok," she said, trying to stay calm. They had exhausted their places to hide. All she could do was go farther and farther into the wilderness and hope they didn't run out of forest before they were discovered. She trusted her son's judgment and bundled him up in her jacket. It was far too cold for someone his size and age to be running around in. She smiled as he rubbed at her necklace which she had given him once she realized she had been betrayed. Naythan had given it to her when he had told her that he loved her. It would always be a symbol to her of what she believed; all people should be loved equally without prejudice. She was proud to see Duo honoring that idea. She hoped that he wouldn't grow up like his father, too scared to keep up with his own ideals. He had believed in the idea of equality enough to have sex with her, but not enough to love their child.

Mother and child hid low amongst the thick foliage. It was times like these that Anya was glad she had black wings. She covered the two them with them as they hid. Gaiiji with brighter wings were easily spotted while they were much more hidden. Duo was a little trooper, keeping completely still and quiet as he shook with fear. She had no idea how they were going to escape. The woods were completely surrounded by Gaiiji. Their only shot was to wait until there was a gap and to make a run for it. She once again found herself relying on her own fiver year old son to know when it was safe to come out of hiding. They were incredibly lucky when after two hours of crouching they couldn't see anyone else in the area. So, she ran with Duo in her arms. Anya had never had a family before. All she remembered was living in deserted houses and sheds in the woods. She liked to think that her parents had been enslaved like the rest of their race and had deserted her to save her from that fate. But, she promised herself that she would not desert her child. Duo needed protection from the evils of the world, even if his father was one of those evils.

Anya cried out as she was struck on her side by something solid and powerful. As she fell, she tucked Duo tightly to her stomach to protect him from the blow. But, he tumbled from her grasp as someone grabbed her by her hair.

"Svenyan! Stupid bitch!" Her captor shook her harshly. She struggled violently as she saw a silver-haired feline Gaiiji grab her son as he tried to run to her.

"Let him go!" She shrieked, slamming her right wing into the Gaiiji that was holding her, but it was useless, it only seemed to piss him off. He shoved her to the ground and she felt her energy being drained away. Only a very powerful Gaiiji had that ability. She stared shock as green, cold eyes glared at her. Every Gaiiji in Etenesizen knew of Miori. He was a cruel creature who had gone through more slaves than any other. She had not seen any of his slaves after he was done with them, but she had heard enough stories to feel terrified of the wolf. He was incredibly powerful and it wasn't hard for her to see how they had gotten caught so easily. She would die before she would see her son hurt by this monster!

"Leave him alone, I beg you," she pleaded. The feline laughed at her.

"How dare you talk to me like that?" Miori's voice was cold and oddly furious despite the fact that he had not raised his voice at all. "You are in no condition to make demands, woman. You have created a great sin and you will be punished for it," he turned his cruel gaze to her son, "both you and your sin."

Duo screamed and fought as Yun dragged him down the hall by his arm. The cat snarled and slapped him across the face.

"Be quiet and do as you're told." Duo fell to the ground. He pressed his hand on his heated cheek. What was going on?! What was this strange place and why was this man being so violent?

"I want to see my mom!" He cried. Yun sneered.

"Don't worry, you'll join her soon enough. For now, you'd better do what I say." He grabbed the child by the hair. Duo bit his lip in pain. He just wanted to see his mother.

Yun kicked open a door and shoved the hybrid Gaiiji inside. Duo looked in horror about the room. Strange, twisted items were on the walls and probably also in the various cabinets. But the worst was a bed with shackles and chains attached to it and an iron cage. Yun shoved him towards the cage.

"In," he ordered.

"No, please!" Duo begged, sobbing. Yun grabbed him by the back of his neck and forced him into the cage and slammed the door behind him. He watched with a grin as the child curled up in the corner. He didn't say anything to the creature as he left the room, locking the door behind him. The boy would stay there until Miori decided what to do with him; he would either by subjected to a public execution like his mother or be enslaved. Yun licked his lips. He for one hoped it was the latter.

Duo shuddered against the bars of the cage. How could anyone be so cruel? What was going to happen to him? Where was his mother? She was all that he had in the world. He was terrified and couldn't sleep. He knew that there was no way he could get out of this one. They weren't in the woods anymore, they were in the city. Even if he escaped from this building, he looked different than everyone else and would be spotted easily. He didn't understand fully what was going on, just that it had something to do with the way he and his mother looked. These people couldn't be reasoned with; he could only hope that they wouldn't hurt them. He hoped that wherever his mother was now she was warmer than he was.

Anya glared at Naythan as he approached her. She didn't care what he had come to her cage to speak to her for. She had nothing more to say to the bastard. Because of her, her baby boy was either going to die like her or become slave to a cruel Gaiiji who would not care about his health in the least. Naythan paced outside the female black wing's cage.

"Why didn't you just turn yourself in?" He asked, his voice desperate, "You could have given them the baby and you would have been spared, but instead you ran for all of these years and now they must execute you!"

Anya narrowed her eyes at him.

"Fuck you, Naythan. You don't deserve to be that boy's father. Hell, he is only five and he is twice the man you'll ever be!" She laughed bitterly, "Do you really think that they would have spared me if I gave them Duo? Even if they had, I would just be a slave!"

"But you would be alive," Naythan said in a small voice, his black feline ears flat drooped in sadness.

"That's no way to live," Anya said, "But you'll never now that, you're kind never will," she said angrily.

Five hundred years ago, a plague had hit Etensizen. It wiped out ninety three percent of the Gaiiji, however, none of them had been black wings. When the leaders of the Etensizen world studied the black wings, they discovered that due to a slight variation in the black wings' genetics, they were immune to the virus. The citizens of Etensizen were terrified by the virus, so the leaders decided to use the black wings as scapegoats, saying that the reason that the plague existed was because that the black wings had engineered it out of their own cells in order to dominate the other Gaiiji species. The black wings were captured, enslaved, tortured, and experimented on until a cure was found. Now, five hundred years later, the black wings are still slaves. Very few Gaiiji remember why, but that doesn't matter. Everyone knows that the black wings are evil.

They came for her early that morning. Anya knew what was going to happen. A public execution to reassure the masses that the council was doing their job. She only hoped that Duo would not have to witness it. She didn't know what she wanted anymore. She was so scared, she wanted to see her baby one last time, but she didn't want him to know what was going to happen to her. She didn't want Duo to be executed, but she didn't want him to live out his life as a slave. She felt tears running down her cheeks as she was led out of the jail. Why was this happening? All she wanted was for her son to grow up to know what true freedom felt like. But he would never learn that in this place. She was led out onto a platform where an executioner stood, his sword gleaming. Naythan was also there and Miori and Yun. Hundreds of people stood to watch the 'show.' Some jeered, while others clapped as she was brought to the executioner. She heard someone crying and she turned to her right. Her eyes widened as she saw Duo in chains, watching her be brought out. She squeezed her eyes shut. How could they do this? No words were spoken, they did not need to speak to her. To them she was a mere animal. No one would need to talk to a rabid dog that was about to be euthanized, so why should they speak to her. The executioner stepped aside as Naythan stepped towards her. The hooded killer handed the panther his sword. Suddenly, she understood. This was Naythan's punishment for his sin. No, more like it was redemption. Kill the sin and save the sinner. She stared up at him in pure hate.

"You may kill me, but you're the one who is the slave, Naythan, never me and never my son," she hissed. He paled and raised the sword above his head.

Duo screamed as he saw the panther slice off his mother's head. He tried to look away, but Yun grabbed his head and forced him to watch. He could feel anger bubbling up inside of him. He wanted that man to die. He had killed his mommy and he deserved to know what that felt like. He felt some sort of incredible power rising in his body. Yun yelped as Duo's body began to glow and he let him go in a panic. A surge of energy left Duo and hit Naythan in the back, tearing him to shreds. Duo felt good watching the bloody corpse fall to the ground before he lost consciousness. The audience screamed and several of them fled. Yun grabbed at Duo and neither he nor Miori spared Naythan another glance. The important thing was the abomination child. No one this young could use their power like that, but he had. Yun recognized the look of Miori's face. His lover was very, very interested in the child. Yun grinned. He had to admit, he was interested, too.

Duo screamed loudly as Miori manhandled him. He had no idea where he was, he had just awoken in this horrible place. Their was a large bed in the corner and large boxes around the room. The wolf, the cat, and Duo were the only ones here and he didn't like that at all. Just the sight of the two adult Gaiiji turned his blood cold. His mother was dead. He was all alone and in the hands of these blood thirsty monsters. Miori gripped Duo's neck as Yun held the boy down and the wolf put a collar around Duo's neck. He forced Duo to look him in the eye.

"You are mine, now, Nyet, do you understand?"

"Let me go!" Duo cried as the tight color bit into his neck. Miori slapped him across the face. Yun watched all of this with a smirk, the kid was stubborn. Miori had tried to get him to call him master for a half an hour now, but the boy refused, he just kept fighting them. Yun didn't mind at all, he liked the fighters. Miori hissed as Duo sunk his teeth into his hand.

"Jveshi!" He swore and grabbed Duo by the color, "I'll show the world who you belong to," he flipped Duo onto his stomach, "Yun, restrain him." Yun raised his hand in the air and tentacles that seemed to come out of nowhere wrapped around the child's arms and legs. The boy was already naked and seeing his ass swaying in front of them was making Yun hard. He wanted to get all of the business out of the way and just fuck the little spitfire, but this was Miori's show. Miori caressed Duo's shoulder. The boy's skin was perfect, smooth, and pale. He would change all that, though. He licked his lips as one of his nails grew long and became red as he made in red hot. He did this with all of his bed slaves, but this time was special. Just the idea of branding the gorgeous abomination made him feel hot all over.

Duo felt something hot pierce his shoulder and he screamed in pain. He could smell his flesh burning. What were they doing to him? He just wanted to be left alone!

Miori moved his nail with great precision. His claw made a scar the shape of a bat wing on Duo's shoulder. When he was done making the outline, he dug his claw into the middle of it and the skin turned black and decayed. Duo sobbed as he felt the claw leave him, but his shoulder felt seared and hot.

"Get me the needles," Miori ordered Yun. Yun nodded.

"Which ones do you want?"

Miori's green eyes traveled over Duo's feline ears.

"The bells."

Yun grinned, so Miori was in a playful mood tonight. He ran to one of the boxes and took out a small wooden box and handed it to Miori. Duo continued to struggle and fight. He wouldn't give in, no matter how much pain he was in! Suddenly, he felt drained and tired. Yun flexed his hand, taking just enough energy to keep Duo from moving around too much. It was fun causing him pain, but Miori wouldn't want his work to be messed up.

"Flip him," Miori commanded. Yun flexed his hand again the tentacles turned him onto his back. Duo shuddered. The things holding him were warm and pulsating and slippery. They felt so weird against his bare skin and now he was too weak to fight them off. Miori opened the box and pulled out a jar of liquid, a pair of latex gloves and, Duo saw with horror, four long needles. Miori snapped on the gloves.

"W-What are you doing?" Duo asked, terrified. Miori slapped him again.

"You speak only when I tell you. You are my property now and if you can't understand that, I will only make this more painful for you."

Duo whimpered. He didn't want to obey, but it hurt so much! Surely, if he could just say that one little word, he would be left alone.

"I'm sorry… M-Master," he struggled with the word. Miori smiled.

"That was very good, Nyet, but this is not punishment, this is for my pleasure. I think you would look beautiful like this," Miori said. Duo paled. He had said that nasty thing for nothing, he was still going to hurt him.

Miori spread some of the liquid on Duo's nipples. Duo squirmed, not liking the wolf touching him there. The liquid smelled funny, but it didn't burn or sting so Duo couldn't figure out what it was for. Miori picked up a long needle and a delicate, golden bell that made a beautiful sound and was attached to what looked like a silver earring. Miori gave Duo no warning as he pierced one of Duo's nipples. Duo screamed but the tentacles made sure that he couldn't thrash around. Miori felt himself grow harder at the sound of the child's screams and pushed the needle all of the way through, following the needle with the bell ring. The slight weight made the wound burn and the bell jingled as it fell on his chest. Duo shuddered. It hurt so much. His nipple throbbed and burned. Then, a twin pain occurred on the other nipple was pierced and another bell was attached. Miori was clinical and Yun loved watching his lover work.

"Spread his legs," Miori ordered. Yun flicked his hand and the tentacles spread the boy's legs wide. Then, Miori spread more of the sterilizing fluid onto the head of Duo's small, underdeveloped cock.

"No!" Duo screamed, "Not there, please!" Miori ignored him and gave him an apadravya piercing, vertically through the head of his cock, attaching a bell as the needle went all of the way through. Duo screeched like the cat he was. Nothing had ever hurt so badly before. The tinkling of the bells merged with his hitching sobs. Why couldn't they stop? His chest and crotch were on fire. He barely felt Miori hands spreading the fluid onto his testicles.

"No, please," he sobbed.

"Just one more," Miori cooed, piercing Duo's scrotum and attaching one more bell. Duo lay limp, his body thrumming with pain and agony. He felt Miori's lips on his, but couldn't fight back, even when the wolf's tongue wormed its way into his mouth. The boy's pain tasted so sweet and he looked adorable with the bells on him. Miori jiggled the large bell that was on Duo's collar. The boy was a freak, but he was an erotic freak. He wanted to bury his throbbing length into him. But, the boy was inexperienced and Miori still had one more thing to do.

"Give me the enema kit," he told Yun. Yun frowned.

"What about a bed pan, then?"

Miori smirked.

"We haven't fed him since we caught him and he used the cage toilet yesterday, the bed pan won't be necessary, I just want to see it. Besides, I still need to punish him for being so rude to me." Yun nodded and went to fetch the kit. Duo shuddered. He couldn't imagine what other horrible things they were going to do to them. What had he done to deserve this?

"You're a monster," Miori whispered in Duo's ear as though he had heard his thoughts, "But you are still my property and you will do as you are told. If you don't act like the slave you are, I will hurt you. Do you understand?"

Duo nodded, tears running down his cheeks. He was nothing. He saw the other Gaiiji around him and was starting to realize the reasons why he and his mother were always hiding. These Gaiiji only had singular features. Duo was different. Miori had caught him and now he was his. Miori had complete and total control over his life now. If he didn't want to be constant pain, all he had to do was do everything he was told to do. It wasn't that hard, was it? After all, he had done the same thing with his mother. However, his mother had never hurt him.

Yun returned with a large bottle of watery liquid and a huge syringe. Miori dipped the tip of the syringe into the water and filled it up.

"I'm going to put all of this inside of you and you aren't going to let out a single drop until I tell you to, do you understand?"

Duo shuddered. No, he didn't understand. What was the point of drinking a bunch of water? But he nodded anyway.

The thin nozzle of the enema needle slid into Duo's ass. Duo gasped. What was going on? It made him feel strange. Suddenly, warm water flooded through his ass and into his stomach. Duo cried out. It felt really, really weird. His stomach felt hot and he had to fight his body's reaction to push the fluid out of him. His muscles cramped hard and it started to hurt to keep it in. The nozzle left him only to return again, pumping more of the liquid into his body. He sobbed and squirmed. He didn't like this feeling, yet it wasn't entirely painful. That was what made it so strange.

"No, stop!" Duo begged as the needle entered him for the third time. Miori frowned. After all of this time, the boy was still acting stubborn. Instead of pushing the liquid in a little bit at a time, Miori shot it up all at once. Duo screamed. He hated these feelings. His entire body burned and throbbed. He just wanted it all to stop. Having these men do these things to him was so embarrassing. He would give anything to be on the run with his mother again. Miori tossed the syringe back to Yun and turned Duo back onto his stomach. Duo cried as that put pressure on him.

"Please stop," he sobbed, "I'll do anything, just please stop!"

"You say that, yet you continue to be rude to me," Miori growled, "You will take your punishment like a good little Nyet and you will thank me for it."

Duo felt something else on his aching entrance, Miori's fingers. Oh, please, make it go away.

Duo couldn't cry anymore, he was so drained, but when he felt two of Miori's fingers penetrate him he felt like sobbing, How could anything hurt so much.

"You let go and I'll beat you within an inch of your life, do you understand?"

Duo nodded. Miori added another finger and plunged them in and out of him. Blood started to stream down his legs and Duo squirmed at the strange feeling of fingers inside of his body. A fourth finger entered him and Duo just couldn't fight anymore. He didn't have anything left to give. He just wanted to retreat to sleep, somewhere safe where these monsters couldn't touch him. Suddenly, more and more of his ass was stretched to what seemed like impossible lengths as Miori started to work his whole hand into him. Duo whimpered in agony. His body tried to push the intruder out of him, but Miori continued to go deeper until he was inside the small child up to his wrist. He curled his hand into a fist and thrust it in and out of Duo. Duo felt like he was being torn in half as the wolf's hand stretched his delicate opening over and over.

"Please," he begged once more.

"Please, what?" Miori growled.

"Please, master," Duo said, his voice rough from crying. He found that the words came easy now. He almost cried in relief as Miori took out his hand. He was blessedly empty now, but then the wolf's hand was replaced with something worse, something almost as big as his hand, but even more painful.

Miori sunk deep into the hybrid and hissed. Even stretched as much as he was he was still tight. Miori placed a hand on Duo's shoulder wound which was sluggishly bleeding. The force of Miori's thrusts moved Duo and he could feel the painful tugging on his pierced body parts. He felt like throwing up. He wanted that hateful thing out of him _**now**_, but the tentacles held him still. He felt Miori's fangs pierce his shoulder and the wolf muttered strange, alien words in his ear. Duo finally found that he was able to scream as something thick flooded his channel and he felt something… vital…. Being ripped from his body. He felt everything go gray and he detached from his physical body.

Miori groaned as he came into Duo and the Konyatvis was complete. A large chunk of Duo's soul came flooding into him and he gasped. The soul was warm and innocent. So beautiful, Miori wanted to cry. He growled at it. It was his now and no matter where the monster went, he would find him. He now owned him completely, body and soul.

Duo awoke numbly. Why had he woken? He didn't want to be here. He hissed as he felt someone moving inside of him, but it wasn't Miori, he could tell. In a matter of years, he would learn every inch of Miori's body, but even now he could tell the difference between Miori's cock and Yun's. He hissed again as he felt Yun burning his back with his claws. Yun licked his lips. He loved burning while he had sex. Miori didn't like to do it with him, so it was a blessing to have someone who didn't have a say in the matter. The smell of burning flesh gave him a raging hard on and the way that the person's body would clench up in pain was wonderful. Finally, he was able to cum into the tight body beneath him and he watched as his and Miori's cum, along with the fluid from his stomach that Duo had released in his sleep, seeped out sluggishly. Duo barely felt anything as he was lifted and taken back to his cage in the other room. Miori attached a lead to Duo's collar and hooked it up to a ring on the cage's ceiling. He locked the cage door and left. As tired as Duo felt, he couldn't sleep. He felt all of the fluids on his body startlingly considering that the rest of his body was numb. He curled into a ball in the cell, praying that someone would come for him, to take his life, but knowing that no one would.

Three days came and went. Yun and Miori only came to give him food and water. Duo didn't mind. He didn't want anyone to touch him ever again. The bars were freezing against his mutilated shoulder. Still, some deep part of him wished they would just do something and get it over with. He knew that they weren't done with him and the waiting and wondering if today would be today, if when the door opened this time, they would hurt him again, was wearing on him. He was alone with his thoughts. His mother's smiling face came to him over and over again, swiftly followed by the last look on her face that she had had during her execution. Finally, on the third day, when Miori refilled Duo's water dish, he didn't leave immediately. Duo hated how he was treated like an animal. He was Gaiiji just like Miori and Yun! He was not some sort of beast… Was he? What if… what if they were right and he was some sort of horrible monster? He was a freak, already. Miori sat cross legged outside of the cage and stared at Duo. Duo shivered. He hated the wolf's green eyes. They were so cold and seemed to pierce through him like a sword.

"You know, that man you killed the day your mother was executed was your father."

Duo's violet eyes grew wide.

"Oh, don't feel sorry for him," Miori said, nonchalantly, examining his sharp nails, "If it weren't for him, your mother would still be alive and the two of you would still be living out in the woods somewhere. As soon as your father learned that your mother was pregnant, he told the council. He betrayed you and your mother, his own son and wife, just so he wouldn't get in trouble. So you see," Miori met Duo's eyes again, "It doesn't matter where you go, people will always betray you. Because of the way you look, people will always distrust you and became distrustful themselves," Miori smiled, "But not us. We'll always be honest. Do you want out of the cage?"

Duo paused. The news of his father was shocking, but when he heard about what he had done with his mother, he felt no sympathy for the man that had abandoned them, only a dull rage. It couldn't be this easy; no way the wolf would just let him out if he asked him. It had to be a trick.

"Yes, Master," Duo said. The torture and sensory deprivation in this room had made him a quick learner. He couldn't go through the pain again.

"Good pet," Miori said and unlocked the cage door, taking his leash and leading him out of the room.

Two years later…

Duo scrubbed hard at the blood and semen stained sheets. Two years had passed and he still was not used to the sex and training and he didn't think he ever would be. At first, Miori had kept him confined to the cage or their bedroom, but now that Duo had become a competent slave, always doing what he was told, he was allowed to walk around the building. It was a communal; a place where several Gaiijin lived with their families and slaves. It was a huge place and Miori and Yun lived in the richest sector. However, Duo had to come into other sectors to do the laundry. The other places were strange to him. He was so used to his own place and Masters that seeing other slaves and Gaiiji Masters was confusing. Because he was a slave, he had to do what the other Masters told him, but he wasn't allowed to be fucked by anyone else unless his Master told him so. Duo had stopped calling Miori by his first name a long time ago. Every time he felt the name forming on his lips, his body would undergo an overwhelming, psychological pain. Duo saw a flash of bright gold walking by him and lifted his head. It was a beautiful, blonde dog Gaiiji, her hair long and curled and her gold eyes were soft, matching the color of her furry ears and bushy tail. Yet, she was wearing a color. Duo was perplexed. He had only ever seen enslaved black wings, but this girl had no wings at all. The dog noticed him watching her.

"What do want, soot wing?" She snapped. Duo winced at the name. He hated words like that.

"Are… are you a slave?" He asked timidly, not used to talking to other slaves. Usually they steered clear of each other, just focusing on their own tasks. The girl snorted and tossed her beautiful locks over her shoulder. Like Duo, she was naked and her nipples were also pierced like his, but hers were connected by a delicate golden chain. Her breasts were large and perky, but Duo didn't feel anything looking at them bob as she moved.

"Of course I am," she said as though she thought that Duo was an idiot and she probably did. She was much older than him, probably in her twenties.

"But why?" He asked. She sighed.

"I once was the daughter of one of the leaders," she said. Duo gasped.

"I had everything until I met this stupid male soot wing," she said bitterly, "The patrol found him and to save his own life, he told on me. I didn't do anything!" She said and Duo could tell that she was lying, "I mean, we just chatted a little! But still here I am and he got his head chopped off anyway! My father didn't want anything to do with me after that and I got sent to this… place!" She rubbed her stomach as she spoke. Duo bit his lip to keep from asking what she had done with the baby. He had a good idea of what she had done to it. His mother was so much braver than this stuck up, ex-noble. She had kept him.

The dog narrowed her golden eyes at him.

"You know, I've been here for years and I've never really talked to anyone," she said, smiling softly, "It would be nice having a friend here," she leaned in close, "I know how to get out," she whispered. Duo's ears perked up.

"But, then why haven't you escaped?"

The girl snorted.

"I'm too big. There's a hole in the barrier, but only someone small like you could get through it. Beyond the barrier is a field and a little beyond that is the woods. You could hide in there."

"Why are you helping me?" Duo asked, even as hope burned in him. Her smile was sad.

"You may be a freak, but you're still just a child," she said, rubbing her stomach again.

Duo waited for dark before making his move. Miori and Yun had fucked him and put him back in his cage. Sometimes they let him sleep in bed with them, but only if they were feeling especially playful. During their time together, Duo had managed to swipe a bit of metal wire they sometimes used to tie him up with and hid it in his hair. Neither of them noticed. Now he used the wire to open up the cage door. It took some effort, but after an hour he managed to spring the lock. Now, he was running through the halls to the outdoors. The moonlight burned his eyes but it was a pleasant thing. He hadn't been outside in two years since the night of his mother's death. Twenty feet from the building was a sort of invisible field that would shock anyone wearing a collar. However, someone had been lax when putting it up and there was a small gap near a certain tree. Duo used his advanced senses to locate the place where the electricity didn't flow and slid through it. He had expected that this had all been a trick, but he didn't get shocked. He was free. He ran. Running felt so good against his ears and tail. He would have cried out in joy at feeling the soft grass under his bare feet once more, but the field was too open and too close to the building and just because he had made it past the barrier didn't mean that nothing could go wrong. He made it to the woods without anything happening, so he slowed down a little, taking in every little detail of the world around him. He was finally free of all of the horrible things that had been forced upon him. Suddenly, something thick, warm, and wet wrapped around his ankle and he was pulled backwards. More of the wet things wrapped around his neck, arms, and thighs, forcing his legs wide apart.

"Naughty boy," Yun's familiar voice came to him. Duo cried out as he felt the tentacles tug at the bells he was wearing on his nipples. He felt the thick things wrap around his cock and balls tightly, moving up and down and playing with his piercing. He screamed when a thin one forced itself into the slit of his cock and fucked him through his dick. The piercing at the head of his cock throbbed as it was stretched by the tentacle. He screamed again as two thick ones thrust into his ass, moving oppositely of each other and rubbed their burning fluid in him. As he opened his mouth, another tentacle went down his throat, forcing him to swallow the fluid and it burned his stomach. Duo screamed against the thickness in his mouth. It hurt! It felt like he was being torn apart from all of his holes. He felt like he was going insane. Suddenly all of the tentacles left him and he fell limp on the ground. Yun smirked as he saw the creamy fluid left by his tentacles cover Duo and leak out of him. He grabbed the boy's hips and thrust into him. He hissed in pleasure. The fluid made his cock feel hot and tight and the boy's walls spasmed against him. He came hard. The boy took the chance to try to run once more, but Yun grabbed his ankle and pulled the boy to him. Miori was not going to be happy. Yun grinned. That wasn't such a bad thing.

The stupid bitch had ratted him out, Duo discovered as he was dragged back to their sector. The golden dog was waiting for them with a smug look on her face. But that look was short lived when Miori cut off her head anyway. The shocked look on her face was almost enough to make up for everything that happened afterwards, almost but not quite. The mutt should have realized what was going to happen to her. Helping a slave escape was punishable by death, even if that person did trick them. Miori had been right, he couldn't trust anyone.

Four years later…

Duo approached the 'gate' with a heavy heart. Ever since that one night when he was seven, Duo had not tried to escape again. He came to realize that it didn't matter where he ran to, as long as he was in this world, he would never stop being a slave. However, there was a way. His mother had told him stories about different worlds beyond their own. One particular world Duo continually dreamed about; Earth. He knew very little about the gate system, only that there existed ways to move from world to world and that these gates were carefully guarded. It felt like his way to freedom was just outside his reach. For four years, Duo tested the barrier around the building. He finally found another gap, just big enough for him to squeeze through without getting zapped. He had tried to get the collar off, but it was infused with magic and over the years had bitten into his neck. Still, though he knew he had a means of escape, he didn't have enough power to move through the gate. Then, he hit puberty at age eleven, just three months ago, and his full power came to him. Finally, he had a plan.

Duo stood in front of the gate. Miori would be coming soon, but that didn't matter. The gate keeper had been easy to convince with Duo's narrow hips and his power, he had managed to both seduce and bully the serpent Gaiiji. But Duo knew that the man had run off to get his Master. None of that mattered. He was leaving here, even if he had to kill himself. He focused all of his energy on the gate. His collar tightened around his neck as power surged from him in a glowing wave. He felt the gate open for him. He imagined the Milky Way Universe with its stars and oceans and colonies. He felt himself being pulled forward like a rubber band. It took only a matter of minutes, then new noises and strange smells came to him. He opened his eyes. He was someplace dark. A narrow alley that smelled of trash and waste. He could hear loud, angry voices around him and the smell of smoke burned his nose. It was beautiful. With the last vestiges of his fading energy, Duo focused on a single image; what he would look like if he was human. He felt his ears, tail, and wings sink into his strange new body. The trip had sucked away his power and felt himself losing consciousness.

Sister Helen of Maxwell Church gasped as she saw what looked like a dead body in the alley. She had gone shopping for milk and bread for the orphans of the church when she had spotted it. It was a boy, completely naked, wearing a collar, and smelling of sex. He had weird piercings and bruises on him.

"Oh, you poor little thing," she murmured, taking off her jacket and wrapping it around the shivering child, she swept him into her arms.

End Chapter 3


End file.
